Gary E. Krier

Former research pilot Gary E. Krier had a varied and distinguished career at NASA over a more than 40-year span. He served in numerous positions with the Agency beginning in 1967 when he began work at NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong)v Flight Research Center at Edwards, CA, as an aerospace research pilot and engineer. His last assignment was as Deputy Associate Director for Operations at Dryden from 2003 to 2008, when he retired from the Agency.

Experience

Krier was a research pilot on many of the most significant aeronautical flight research projects at Dryden over a 15-year period. He was the first pilot to fly the F-8 Digital Fly-by-Wire aircraft that pioneered digital computerized control systems to aircraft and the Integrated Propulsion Control System F-111 with digital fuel and inlet control. He was co-project pilot on the F-8 Supercritical Wing project, and flew research flights of the prototype YF-17 aircraft.

Krier has flown more than 30 types of aircraft, ranging from light planes to the eight-engine B-52 and the triple-sonic YF-12.

Krier transferred to NASA’s Ames Research Center in 1982 where he worked as attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel. He took a position at NASA Headquarters as Director of the Aircraft Management Office the following year, and then served as Director of the Commercial Development Division, Office of Commercial Programs, at NASA Headquarters from 1984 to 1987. He then held two different management positions at NASA Headquarters relating to Space Shuttle operations over the next five years. From 1992 to 1994, Krier served as Manager, Operations and Facilities, for the New Launch System at NASA Headquarters, where he developed operational procedures and facilities for the next generation of Expendable Launch Vehicles and participated in policy making for the program.

Krier returned to NASA Dryden in 1995, where he became Director of Intercenter Aircraft Operations. He then headed Dryden’s Aerospace Projects Directorate from March 1997 to August 1998 and its Airborne Science Directorate through mid-1999, when he was appointed as both the center’s chief engineer and director of its Systems Management Office. After a brief stint as acting Deputy Center Director in 2001, Krier served as Director of Flight Operations from 2001 to 2003.

Before joining NASA, Krier served as an engineer for Pratt & Whitney, Martin Marietta, and Hercules Powder Company. He is the author of seven technical reports.

Education

Krier earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah in 1960 and a master’s in business administration with distinction from Golden Gate University in 1978. He was awarded his Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law in 1982. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and the Quiet Birdmen.